Updates STS-133 Updates

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NASASpaceFlight: STS-133: Tanking Test plan outlined – Rollback to allow for additional ET scans.

Florida Today - The Flame Trench: NASA plans to roll Discovery off pad after tanking test.

Florida Today: Testing, rollback planned for shuttle.

 

[Donamy]

They should let some kids from Spacecamp, sit at the controls for the test.

 

[tblaxland]

With Lea Thompson in the right seat? Watch for the thermal curtain failure :dry:

 

[orb]

Spaceflight Now's Mission Status Center:

1845 GMT (1:45 p.m. EST)

Perched atop scaffolding erected on the launch pad's swing arm, workers are reaching additional areas on Discovery's external tank today to continue with fueling test preparations. This scaffolding was constructed atop the pad's intertank access arm that extends from the main tower to the external tank.

It's a visually exciting worksite, to say the least, and high winds yesterday prevented the technicians from climbing up there. They will be marking the tank with thousands of dots for photogrammetry, a method of observing the tank's subtle movements during Friday's planned fueling test.

Some 89 strain and temperature sensors have been attached to the tank's skin. Application of foam insulation over top the instrumentation is on-going. Completing that foaming and having suitable weather will determine if Friday's test can proceed as currently scheduled.

Plans call for the countdown sequence to begin ticking Wednesday at 9 p.m. EST inside the Launch Control Center. The rotating service structure would be retracted away from Discovery on Thursday around 9:30 p.m. EST.

Fueling of Discovery with a half-million gallons of supercold liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen is targeted to start at 7 a.m. EST and take the usual three hours to complete. The inspection team then gets dispatched to pad 39A for extensive examinations of the tank and foam after fueling is finished.

Clocks will tick through the final minutes of the countdown and see the external tank pressurized for flight, further adding to the data collected about the structural performance. A cutoff occurs around 2:20 p.m. EST at T-minus 31 seconds, followed by safing and the offloading of propellants.

Rollback to the Vehicle Assembly Building is expected next Tuesday or Wednesday.

 

[DaveS]

CTS for S0037 Integrated Tanking Test have now occured. CDC set to T-001:09:00:00 and holding.

---------- Post added at 03:00 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:46 AM ----------

The countdown for the tanking test have now begun. It was started at 9pm EST as planned.

 

[orb]

Now, at 2 hours 44 minutes into T-11 hours and holding, RSS rollback to park position for tanking test has just been started.
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NASASpaceFlight: STS-133: ET-137 ready for Friday’s Tanking Test – GUCP to be monitored:

Pending acceptable weather conditions on Friday, all systems are go for ET-137′s Tanking Test – a key milestone in the effort to gain data on both the health of the tank and the root cause investigation into four cracks sustained during the previous STS-133 tanking. The November launch attempt was scrubbed due to a leak at the Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate (GUCP) – which will also be tested during Friday’s loading.

{...}

SPACE.com: NASA to Test Shuttle Discovery's Damaged Fuel Tank Friday.
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The rotating service structure was moved away from space shuttle Discovery at NASA Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39A at 03:15 UTC / 10:15 p.m. EST in preparation for Friday's tanking test.

Teams are not working any issues that would delay the test, which is scheduled to begin at 12:00 UTC / 7 a.m. EST on Friday, Dec. 17.

Live coverage on NASA TV is set to begin at 11:45 UTC 6:45 a.m. EST.

 

[orb]

T-6 hours and holding. Testing tanking is about to start in an hour.

Here's remaining timeline for the tanking test:

UTC​

|

EST​

|

Description​

11:00 |06:00 AM |Begin a one-hour built-in hold

12:00|07:00 AM|Resume countdown

12:00|07:00 AM|Liquid oxygen/hydrogen transfer line chill down begins

12:10|07:10 AM|Liquid hydrogen slow fill begins

12:40|07:40 AM|Liquid oxygen slow fill begins

12:45|07:45 AM|Hydrogen engine cutoff sensors "wet"

12:50|07:50 AM|Liquid oxygen fast fill begins

13:00|08:00 AM|Liquid hydrogen fast fill begins

14:15|09:15 AM|Liquid hydrogen topping (98 percent full)

14:45|09:45 AM|Liquid hydrogen replenish

15:00|10:00 AM|Liquid oxygen stable replenish

15:00|10:00 AM|Begin a one-hour built-in hold

15:00|10:00 AM|Final inspection team at the launch pad

16:00|11:00 AM|Resume countdown

18:00|01:00 PM|Final inspection team departs launch pad

18:40|01:40 PM|Begin a 10-minute hold at T-minus 20 minutes

18:50|01:50 PM|NASA test director briefing

18:50|01:50 PM|Resume countdown

19:01|02:01 PM|Begin a 10-minute hold at T-minus 9 minutes

19:05|02:05 PM|NASA test director launch status verification

19:11|02:11 PM|Resume countdown

19:11|02:11 PM|Ground launch sequencer auto sequence start

19:16|02:16 PM|Terminate liquid oxygen replenish

19:18|02:18 PM|Liquid oxygen tank pressurization

19:19|02:19 PM|Liquid hydrogen tank pressurization

19:20|02:20 PM|Begin a five-minute hold at T-minus 31 seconds

19:24|02:24 PM|Fueling test ends

19:50|02:50 PM|Liquid oxygen drain begins

19:55|02:55 PM|Liquid hydrogen drain begins

 

[orb]

T-5 hours 57 minutes and counting. Transfer lines are being chilled down.

NASASpaceFlight: Discovery/ET-137 Tanking Test gathering Flight Rationale data:

As engineers prepare to gather detailed data on the thermal and stress environments of the External Tank’s intertank stringers at the LOX flange and LH2 flange areas, NASA managers have begun fueling Discovery’s External Tank with nearly 535,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. The Tanking Test is expected to culminate in a GLS (Ground Launch Sequencer) cutoff at the T-31sec mark at ~14:24 EST.

{...}

 

[orb]

Spaceflight Now: No obvious problems seen as Discovery's fuel tank filled.

It would be a perfect day for a launch today.

---------- Post added - the previous post was at Dec. 17th, 16:06 UTC ----------

A nice video from Spaceflight Now:

Shuttle fuel tank wired up for crucial test by "spaceflightnow"

​

---------- Post added - the previous post was at Dec. 17th, 17:25 UTC ----------

Spaceflight Now - Mission Status Center:

1815 GMT (1:15 p.m. EST)

NASA has revised the precise launch time for Discovery's potential Feb. 3 liftoff by a minutes. The new time is 1:37 a.m. EST (0637 GMT), the moment that the International Space Station's orbital plane and launch pad 39A are properly aligned.

Discovery would dock to the station on Feb. 4 at about 9:43 p.m. EST, the mission spacewalks occur the nights of Feb. 6 and Feb. 8, with installation of the new Permanent Multipurpose Module on the in-between day.

Undocking comes Feb. 11 at 4:42 p.m. EST, setting up for landing back at the Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 13 around 8:41 p.m. EST after a mission lasting 10 days, 19 hours and 4 minutes.

Tanking test now at T-9 minutes and holding.

 

[orb]

Spaceflight Now: Shuttle tanking test completed with no major surprises:

Data from temperature sensors attached to the skin of the shuttle Discovery's external tank closely matched predictions from computer models, engineers said Friday as a critical fueling test drew to a close, and no unusual stresses were noted from strain gauges on or near structural ribs, or stringers, that cracked during a Nov. 5 launch attempt.

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[Chupacabra]

Shuttle Rollback around 12:30AM EST tonight (Tuesday). I expect to see a lot of good photos of Discovery with a blood red moon.

NASA Space Shuttle Section

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

NASA's Space Shuttle Discovery Rolls Off Launch Pad Tuesday.

Space shuttle Discovery is scheduled to roll back from Launch Pad 39A to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for additional work related to its final scheduled mission. The first motion of the shuttle is targeted for 12:30 a.m. EST on Tuesday, Dec. 21.

In the VAB, technicians will scan below the foam insulation surrounding the intertank section of Discovery's external tank to look for any issues, such as cracks. They also will reapply foam after removing 89 sensors from the tank's aluminum skin following an instrumented tanking test on Dec. 17.

The sensors were used to measure changes in the tank as super-cold propellants were pumped in and drained out during the test. Data and analysis from the test will be used to determine what caused the tops of two, 21-foot-long support beams, called stringers, on the outside of the intertank to crack during fueling on Nov. 5.

Discovery's next launch attempt is no earlier than 1:37 a.m. on Feb. 3.

The fully assembled space shuttle, consisting of orbiter Discovery, the external fuel tank and twin solid rocket boosters, is mounted on a mobile launcher platform and will be returned to the VAB atop a crawler transporter. The crawler will travel slower than 1 mph during the 3.4-mile journey, which is expected to take about six hours.

Video highlights of the rollback will air on the NASA Television Video File segment Tuesday.

Media are invited to a photo opportunity of the shuttle's move back into the VAB. Reporters must arrive at Kennedy's News Center by 6 a.m. for transportation to the viewing area.

As dates and times of this event are subject to change, updates are available at 321-867-2525.

For NASA TV downlink information, schedules and links to streaming video, visit:
www.nasa.gov/ntv

For more information about Discovery's STS-133 mission and its crew, visit:
www.nasa.gov/shuttle

 

[orb]

For tonight's rollback, the RSS will be pulled away from Discovery at 7:30 p.m. EST / 00:30 UTC and the orbiter access arm retracted. Call to stations for the rollback crew is scheduled at 8:30 p.m EST / 01:30 UTC, and the shuttle's departure from the launch pad to start at 12:30 a.m. EST / 05:30 UTC. The crawler-transporter is pre-staged at the pad's perimeter gate.

 

[orb]

First motion of the RSS to PARK postition was recorded at 02:06 UTC Tuesday / 9:06 p.m. EST Monday. - Retraction of the rotating service structure has been delayed a little, because technicians were working on decoupling the launch pad's GH2 vent arm from the GUCP.

All weather conditions are acceptable for transporting the space shuttle to the VAB.

 

[DaveS]

Due to a problem with the Crawler's hydraulic Jacking, Equalization and Leveling (JEL) system, tonight's rollback has been scrubbed. Right now the plan is to try again tomorrow assuming the problem can be found and corrected in time.

The JEL is the system that keeps the MLP absolutely vertical at all times. It is comprised of 16 hydraulic extensible cylinders(4 in each corner) that is used to keep the main body of the Crawler level at all times.

It seems like when going up the hill the "D" corner of the C/T contacted the bottom cable-tray. They also noticed that when looking closer at it when stationary, the reading from the "D" corner cylinders jumped about an inch for no apparent reason. It also was shown to be slightly higher than the other corners at one point as well.

They're right now moving the Crawler out from beneath the MLP to support further troubleshooting activities.

---------- Post added at 08:27 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:52 AM ----------

The Crawler has now been moved out from beneath the MLP. First motion was logged at 0716 GMT.

---------- Post added at 08:30 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:27 AM ----------

Current plans call for CTS at 1900L with first motion at 2200L and harddown in the VAB at 0500L.

 

[Kyle]

Something regarding STS-133 scrubbing? No way!
:rofl:

 

[orb]

NASASpaceFlight: STS-133: Discovery rollback postponed – GUCP investigation results:

Discovery’s return to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) – in order to gain extra data on the health of the stringers on areas of her tank (ET-137) which can’t be scanned out at the Pad – has been postponed due to issues with the Crawler Transporter. Efforts to return Discovery to the VAB comes just days after a successful Tanking Test, which gained solid data on on the stringers, whilst also confirming the successful troubleshooting on the Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate (GUCP).

{...}

At present, the data gained from the Tanking Test may have provided the required confidence that both the two doubler stringers – which replaced the S6 and S7 stringers, both of which suffered from two cracks each – acted in the required manner during tanking and pressurization during the test.

{...}

Checking the GUCP was classed as a “free” test during Friday’s tanking, which was dedicated towards the gaining of data on ET-137′s stringers. Had the GUCP leak been the only problem with ET-137, a Tanking Test wouldn’t of been carried out. Regardless, the lack of leaks during the tanking has provided a level of confidence that the system will behave once Discovery undergoes another launch attempt.

“S0037 ET Tanking Test: The tanking test was completed successfully on Friday. Good data was collected from all instrumentation installed on the ET. The data is under engineering evaluation but a preliminary assessment shows that the tank performed nominally with actual data closely matching predictions,” added the NTD.

“GUCP repairs were also proven successful with no hydrogen leaks detected. De-tanking, boil-off, and securing from S0037 were completed over the weekend.”

{...}

 

[orb]

Spaceflight Now:

• STS-133 Launch Windows (Updated: December 21, 2010)
• Mission Status Center:
  

  NASA believes a faulty transducer in the crawler-transporter caused the erroneous height readings from the precision leveling system when the machine was traveling up the launch pad ramp last night. The team is replacing the suspect part and still plan to get the rollback underway tonight around 10 p.m. EST.

Florida Today - The Flame Trench: Discovery's rollback targeted for 10 p.m..

 

[DaveS]

Rollback is complete. First motion was logged at 0348 GMT with MLP-3 being harddown on the mounts in HB-1 at 1201 GMT.

 

[orb]

Discovery is back at the VAB. The rollback began at 10:48 p.m. EST Tuesday / 03:48 UTC Wednesday, the stack crossed the threshold of VAB at around 6:15 a.m. EST / 11:15 UTC, and rollback has completed with harddown at VAB pedestals at 7:01 a.m. EST / 12:01 UTC.

Spaceflight Now:

• Discovery returns to the assembly building (PHOTO GALLERY 1)
• Discovery returns to the assembly building (PHOTO GALLERY 2)
• Discovery makes return to trip to assembly building